Climate change news

Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Building resilience to climate change is, therefore, an urgent task and a major challenge for maintaining the country’s economic growth in the short term and for improving quality of life for all in the long term. Despite that fact, there is still some ambiguity around what ‘resilience’ means in policy and practice.

In order to build a better understanding of resilience among young people and to support Vietnam government’s efforts in building climate resilience, this November, French Development Agency (AfD) partnered with Ministry of Planning and Investment and Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union to organise the conference “Youth and climate change: the challenge is today, which solutions for tomorrow?” at Hanoi University of Science. The one-day event highlighted the cooperation and support between French government and Vietnamese counterparts in climate change adaptation and mitigation, and the commitment of the two countries to meet their goals under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The conference served as a platform to share international and local best practices in strengthening climate resilience in urban planning, urban development, flood management and coastal erosion management. Policy makers from Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development presented government policies and plans towards addressing climate change impacts in delta, coastal and urban settings. Key experts also shared their experience with different tools and solutions to improve understanding of risks and […]

Ensuring safe and resilient urban growth is a priority of the ASEAN member counties. The region is highly vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and will continue to be so due to the effects of climate change.

ICEM has developed a free, self-learning training course on disaster risk management for practitioners involved in urban planning in support of BUILD SAFELY, a programme under Phase II of the ASEAN agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2016-2020.

The course contains three modules which provide useful approaches, methods and tools:

The materials cover processes and procedures that architects, engineers, urban planners and others involved in urban planning are familiar with and apply in their work.

The materials may be downloaded and completed independently. They include PowerPoints, written and video based case studies, handout style reading materials and activities. The course will take approximately 2.5 days, but can be undertaken over a longer period.

The Government of Nepal has prioritized addressing the impacts of climate change and seismic hazards on transport infrastructure. The country is facing numerous challenges to manage geohazard risks to its road infrastructure, including challenging terrain, the unstable geology of the Himalayas, and the annual monsoon rainfall. To support the government to identify, assess and prioritize risk mitigation measures, the World Bank initiated the Geohazard Risk Management and Resilient Road Asset Management in Nepal project. The project will help improve the country’s road network resilience to seismic hazards and climate change.

In July, a team of specialists from ICEM and GEOCE went on a scoping and baseline assessment mission to Nepal under the Improving the Resilience of Nepal’s Strategic Roads Network project, implemented as component II of the larger World Bank initiative. This component looks to expand the current flood, landslide and seismic risk assessments in Nepal and contribute to government’s ongoing works in increasing the resilience of roads and bridges.

During the visit, the team met with senior level representatives from the Department of Roads (DOR), the Department of Local Infrastructure Development and Agricultural Roads (DOLIDAR) and the World Bank. The roundtable meeting was used as an opportunity to introduce the project, its methodology, and the main principles of the DOR’s approach to building resilient infrastructure. These principles must be taken into account when revising the project methodology, and kept in mind as the project progresses in order to ensure results are aligned with the DOR’s approach.

The meeting involved a plenary discussion of key technical issues of the project as identified by government counterparts, the […]

To meet crucial development, inclusion and environmental goals in low-income countries and emerging markets, investment in large infrastructure is critical. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimated in 2017 that the developing Asia needed to invest around $26 trillion from 2016 to 2030 ($1.7 trillion annually) in transport, power, telecommunications and water and sanitation infrastructure to maintain current levels of growth.

To increase knowledge on the risks of climate change to critical infrastructure in South and Southeast Asia, and to build a better understanding of the actions and innovations necessary to build critical infrastructure resilient to climate change, the ADB has commissioned TA 9191: Building Climate Change Resilience in Asia’s Critical Infrastructure. The project is being carried out by a joint venture between ICEM – International Centre for Environmental Management, the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), and Philkoei International. The project supports ADB’s effort to scale-up climate-resilient investments in its developing member countries (DMCs).

The project team recently undertook its first consultation mission to Indonesia, one of the project’s three pilot countries, to engage relevant Indonesian government agencies and to refine the scope of work in the country.

Transport infrastructure in Jakarta, Indonesia

The team met with various government agencies, institutes and organizations to secure their involvement, including the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MPWH), Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MFF) and National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB).

Myanmar’s rivers are a key national resource, providing irrigation, hydropower, water supplies for cities and industries, and navigation and transport routes. They are also important ecosystems, supporting productive fisheries both inland and in the deltas, and underpinning the livelihoods of Myanmar communities. As Myanmar develops, aquatic ecosystems are under pressure from changes to the river systems, necessary to foster economic growth, but impacting on the ecosystem services and products provided by rivers.

The Myanmar Healthy Rivers Initiative (MHRI) aimed to develop and test a river health framework which allows government and communities to monitor the status of the riverine ecosystem services they value, and provides evidence for informed, integrated water resource management (IWRM) planning. The project focused on Myanmar’s two iconic rivers; the Ayeyarwady, and the Thanlwin.

The project was recently completed, and all reports and publications produced are now available to view and download. Among others, these include river basin health report cards, river health monitoring frameworks, community river health surveys and a community river health monitoring manual. A characterization of the hydro-ecological zones of the Ayeyarwady River basin, and state of knowledge reports for both basins are also included.

Located in the northern mountainous area of Vietnam, Bac Kan Province is increasingly affected by extreme weather events, aggravated by the impacts of climate change. Droughts, flashfloods, and landslides frequently cause severe damage to agricultural production and livestock, harming the livelihoods of local people in the province.

This July the project team, consisting of experts from ICEM and AREP, visited Bac Kan City to gather information of the challenges that the city is facing as well as proposed responses. First, the team met with the local People’s Committee to clarify key concerns regarding a proposed project to protect areas of the city against flooding and bank erosion of the Cau River. The proposed project includes the construction of new embankments, dredging along this area, and the construction of two weirs. ICEM would review these plans and assess their effectiveness towards achieving their intended goals.

After the meeting, the team visited sites relevant to the project such as the city’s main drainage outflow and sluice gate to the Cau River, areas where landslides occurred during previous storms, upstream drainage channels, existing embankments, and proposed embankment sites. The team took photos and notes on each of the sites to later add to their recommendations on the city’s proposal. The People’s Committee accompanied the project team to provide additional information on each of these sites.

Building on an already extensive track record of experience in South Asia, the ICEM project portfolio in the region has recently expanded with two more projects, building on experience in Nepal and now also including Bhutan. ICEM also added one more project to its current portfolio of projects in Myanmar.

New initiatives to build resilience to climate change in Cambodia are edging closer to implementation following a national workshop in Phnom Penh this March. The workshop served to review the results of six feasibility studies for projects focusing on climate resilience in Cambodia, and to identify projects most likely to receive financing from climate funds.

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is seeing accelerating economic growth, but this success comes at a price – the depletion of the region’s natural resources. This steady decline of natural stocks is resulting in the degradation in ecosystem services and environmental quality, which threatens to undermine the sustainable development that the region is aiming for.

In order to achieve sustainable development goals among the GMS countries, green growth is seen as an integral pathway to follow. This concept calls for economic growth and development while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which communities’ well-being relies. In order to generate high-level consensus from the GMS countries and relevant stakeholders to scale up investments in green interventions and to respond to global and subregional environmental challenges and emerging opportunities, environment ministers from the six GMS countries recently met again to review progress and set the agenda for environmental cooperation in the region. Taking place every three years, the 2018 occasion was the Fifth Greater Mekong Subregion Environment Ministers’ Meeting (EMM5), which took place in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

EMM5 deliverables included endorsement of the GMS Core Environment Program (CEP) Strategic Framework and Action Plan 2018-2022 and consolidated environment pipeline and, for notation, signing of the MoU on transboundary biodiversity cooperation between Thailand and Cambodia.

The formal EMM5 meeting of ministers on 1 February was preceded by a forum on inclusive green growth on 30 and 31 January. It included dialogues on the topics of investing in natural resources, green energy, sustainable infrastructure and climate resilience. […]

Hanoi, Vietnam – August 7, 2017: Series of publications on the promotion of bioengineering in Vietnam now available

The impact of natural events such as floods, droughts and coastal storms will become more severe as populations grow and the landscape is increasingly modified. Northern Vietnam is one area at risk, as climate change is projected to increase the severity of extreme events in the region. This change puts infrastructure like roads and irrigation schemes at greater risks from impacts of flash floods and landslides. The cost of building new infrastructure and repairing existing infrastructure will be high.

In many parts of the world, vegetation has been incorporated in engineering design to protect natural terrain and man-made structures from the problems associated with land degradation, but bioengineering has seen little uptake in Vietnam.

Objectives included the promotion of effective bioengineering measures in road and riverbank slope protection, and initiating the development of a relevant policy framework so that the techniques employed in these bioengineering demonstrations can be replicated elsewhere in the country. A grant for the project was provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the ADB. The project was carried out by ICEM in association with Philkoei, working with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

The project focused on rural irrigation, slope stability for roads, riverbank protection, and flood protection works. Lessons learned from the project provided the basis for capacity building activities with local community members, contractors and government staff at local, provincial and national […]

What have we learned so far? What are the gaps to be highlighted? And what are the inter-relationships of the issues concerned? These are the questions that were answered during the recent dialogue between government and NGO representatives of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) countries and technical experts from regional organisations.

Hanoi, Vietnam – May 25, 2017: Project to demonstrate effective bioengineering application in northern Vietnam draws to a close

After over four years, the ADB Capacity Development Technical Assistance project Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in Northern Vietnam has drawn to a close. The recent final workshop was used as an opportunity to review the project outputs and explore a way forward, including the identification of entry points and next steps for using the project outputs to mainstream bioengineering in Vietnam.

The objective of the project is to increase resilience of infrastructure in the northern provinces of Vietnam. It has demonstrated how non-conventional engineering solutions can strengthen rural infrastructure, resist the hazards associated with climate changes and provide opportunities to enhance community livelihoods. The project focuses on bioengineering as a low-cost alternative to conventional slope stabilization and protection techniques.

The project has centred on testing various measures and tools for assessment, design, construction and monitoring of cost-effective climate resilient bioengineering-focused works at five locations in four sites, across three provinces in northern Vietnam (Bac Kan, Son La and Thai Nguyen). Two of the demonstration sites focus on riverbank slope protection, while the remaining two focus on roadside slope protection.

The final workshop took place in Hanoi on 5 May, and brought together project team members, representatives from the target provinces and communes across the four project sites, and national government representatives.

“It is imperative that climate change adaptive action is a key component of development going forward,” said UNDP Project Advisor, Ms. Jenty Kirsch-Wood. “The cost of adaptation will be huge, and the numbers are staggering. Without effective action, sustainable development will be more difficult. This project is about methods of mainstreaming effective adaptation into government cycles, focusing on low-cost, low-regret […]

The Sekong, Sesan and Sre Pok basins are richly endowed with natural resources and support the livelihoods of an estimated 3.5 million people living in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. In early-March, potential trade-offs among development decisions in the 3S basins, and their social, economic and environmental risks were the topic of a dialogue involving government representatives of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) countries and technical experts from regional organisations.

Vietnam’s northern mountainous provinces are particularly vulnerable to intense storms which may become more frequent and intense due to the impact of climate change. The area is already prone to landslides and floods, but these could become more severe, damaging infrastructure and livelihoods and leaving the provinces with irreplaceable losses. To help the Vietnamese government and communities to protect rural infrastructure from the impacts of climate change, the GEF-funded project Promoting Climate Resilient Rural Infrastructure in Northern Vietnam was implemented in 2012.

Rapid and unplanned urbanization leave cities and towns across the world vulnerable to environmental challenges, including the impact of extreme weather events such as floods and droughts and slow onset changes such as sea level rise. This impact is likely to become more severe due to climate change, threatening infrastructure and sustainability. Nature-based solutions, or green infrastructure, can play a significant role in building urban resilience to these challenges through the rehabilitation and expansion of natural ecosystems within built areas. It provides a foundation strategy to sustainable urban development.

With natural hazards such as flooding, drought and storms set to increase, and urban populations and infrastructure to expand rapidly, urban planners must be able to assess disaster risk and threats associated with climate change in a holistic and integrated manner.

A toolkit that will enable Cambodian government staff to see what climatic changes are on the cards in areas where they are planning developments, is being created by ICEM. The toolkit will, among others, allow for projected climate change parameters to be incorporated in project design and management across all arms of government.ICEM introduced the GIS Climate Change Toolkit, which is still in development, this December at a one-day training workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, attended by various government agencies and NGOs.

The Department of Climate Change (DCC) of the General Secretariat of the National Council for Sustainable Development is requesting submissions of descriptions of credible climate change adaptation and disaster risk practices under two themes:

Indigenous/traditional practices for climate change adaptation and DRR; and

Practices that promote climate resilience and empowerment of women, children and youth.

The contribution will enhance and share knowledge on approaches to climate resilience appropriate to Cambodia. Practices then can be up-scaled to widely apply across Cambodia to reduce the impacts of climate change.

Up to 15 of the best documented practices will be shared at a national ‘Conference on Community Based Climate Change Response Practices in Cambodia’, to be held on 29-30 November 2016. They will also be published as part of a compendium of practices for distribution at national and international level.

The call is open to Cambodia-based non-government organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), university researchers, students, local communities and the private sector. Submissions can be either in Khmer or in English.

This forms part of the ADB project Mainstreaming Climate Resilience into Development Planning. It aims to strengthen Strategic Program for Climate Resilience (SPCR) coordination, technical support, and capacity of national and provincial policymakers, technical staff and civil society organizations to mainstream climate resilience into development planning. Two other outputs of the project include the development of a National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and detailed feasibility studies for selected National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA) projects, and the development and dissemination of climate change adaptation knowledge products.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm (Cambodia time) on Wednesday, 2 November 2016.

What have we learned about bioengineering and its potential to increase infrastructure resilience to the impacts of climate change?
From the 4th to the 6th of October, ICEM - International Centre for Environmental Management, together with Asian Development Bank (ADB), Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD) and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), hosted a workshop to review the results of four bioengineering demonstration sites, summarize the lessons learned, and discuss the way forward.

In order to gather necessary information to build a broad understanding of urban development challenges, in particular natural hazards and climate-related threats, ICEM technical specialists recently carried out a series of roundtable meetings and site visits in seven towns across three countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

A new generation of Vietnamese engineers are being introduced to the concept of green infrastructure and bioengineering that can be used to reduce the vulnerability of infrastructure to climate change.
This September, ICEM team led a group of professors and students from University of Transport and Communications (UTC) on a field visit to a bioengineering demonstration site in Thai Nguyen.

On the 13th and 14th of June, 2016, together with ADB and MARD, ICEM hosted the Bioengineering Workshop: Design & Construction (Roads) in Thai Nguyen. The workshop is the latest development of the ADB project Promoting Climate Resilience in Rural Infrastructure in Northern Vietnam.

The wet season's first few rains have started to fall over the parched Mekong Delta. Though it will take more than a few drops to ease the impacts of the recent drought, the rains still come as a relief.
This year's strong El Niño phenomenon has wreaked havoc on the Delta and regions in Central Vietnam. Drought has caused farms to dry up and crops to wither.

A landlocked nation of eight million people, the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao (Lao PDR) is a country with a wealth of water and natural resources. However, despite recent growth over the past two decades, Lao PDR remains amongst the poorest nations in the world – especially in the nation’s majority rural communities where development has been slow and poverty remains entrenched.

In November in Battambang, Cambodia, 75 experts, practitioners, and planners came together for a three-day intensive on Climate Vulnerability Assessment and Adaptation Planning.
Held as part of Cambodia’s Department of Climate Change Strategic Program for Climate Resilience, this workshop drew representatives from MOWRAM, MAFF, MPWT, MRD and other agencies like MoE, NCDRM, MEP, MoP, MoFA.

Bioengineering Project in Bac Kan, Vietnam Sees Early Success
ICEM's first bioengineered slope project in Bac Kan Province is showing early signs of success.
The test site is divided into four sections, with each section testing and showcasing a different green infrastructure technique. The sections showing the most growth thus far are sections 1 and 4, Brush Layering and Vetiver Grass.

Biochar Project Begins with Rapid Tour of GMS Countries
ICEM's Biochar team has kicked off the project with a tour of the region's six participating countries to perform the project's rapid fire assessment of biochar potential in the GMS.

Aimed at building capacity amongst government officials on climate risk assessment and management, the workshop provided participants with a comprehensive two-day training on climate risk management approaches, climate data utilisation for impact and vulnerability assessment, economic and technical analysis in adaptation assessment and planning, and financial architecture on climate change adaptation initiatives in partnership with the private sector.

ICEM Brings Spatial Expertise to Mekong Delta Forum
The Mekong Delta Forum, co-hosted by MARD, MONRE, World Bank, Australian Aid, Kingdom of the Netherlands, was held in Ho Chi Minh City over February 2 & 3, 2015.
The Forum brought together experts, dignitaries, and professionals to address the "what" and "why" of:

ICEM has been awarded an Asia wide Urban Resilience prize for its work on “Green Infrastructure as a Foundation for Resilience in Mekong Towns.”
In October, the U.S. Global Development Lab, USAID's Regional Development Mission for Asia, UN Habitat and UNDP hosted the Asia Urban Futures Workshop, a two-day international meeting to address climate-related issues and opportunities facing rapidly urbanising Asian cities. The meeting brought science and technology together with the development community to discuss these rising challenges and share solutions.

Over 60 participants from the 6 countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) came together in a workshop that examined ‘Mekong Protected Areas and Climate Change – Implications for Livelihoods and Development” The workshop was held from 8-10 October 2014, in Bangkok, Thailand, and was organized by the International Centre for Environmental Management (ICEM) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) GMS Environment Operations Center (GMS-EOC). Environmental policy makers, international and national conservation organizations and protected area managers attended the event.

In kicking off the event, ICEM’s Jeremy Carew-Reid said that “We are members of the protected area family, a family with a Mission. We are starting on a journey and the destination of that journey is to put protected areas and biodiversity back where they belong – centre stage in the discussions on sustainable development”

Protected areas in the Mekong Region are still largely set within landscapes and seascapes of small-scale fishers and farmers although over the last 20 years the GMS Region has developed rapidly, regional integration of transport infrastructure and markets has progressed significantly, and large-scale commercial agriculture and industrial-scale plantations have grown in importance. With the imminent arrival of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 this transformation of the region is set to continue.

“Now more than ever, protected areas are vitally important, not just for biodiversity conservation, but for the water food and energy security underpinning all of this economic activity” said Robert Mather, Head of IUCN Southeast Asia group, adding that “ The […]

DELTA Tools Project Team visits Mekong Delta
The DELTA Tools project aims to bring climate modeling, hydropower development projections, and land use change together with data on infrastructure investments to facilitate high quality decision making in the Mekong Delta.

ICEM's Mainstreaming Climate Risk Management in Development project has been featured in a recent article by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Published as part of the Foundation's Human Impact series, the article outlines actions of the ADB-funded project and Nepal's government to coordinate efforts across ministries to build climate resilience into infrastructure planning.

ICEM consultants on the ADB Mainstreaming climate change risk management in development project recently undertook a field trip to the remote Mustang district, Nepal. During the field trip the team collected information on development sector infrastructure for undertaking climate change vulnerability assessments for the district.

There are currently upwards of 140 medium and large-scale hydropower projects existing and under consideration across the Lower Mekong Basin. Typically, national and regional planners have had trouble identifying the projects that have the greatest associated flood risk, and developing appropriate measures to incorporate flood control. ICEM’s Reservoir Flood Control Index (the Index) tool will identify these projects and provide an indication of basin-wide priorities for integrating flood control into reservoir design and operations.

The Index uses multi-criteria analysis to assess catchment hydrological characteristics (or the potential for flooding) against the physical and technical capacity of hydropower dams to store and release floodwater, as well as the possible extent of impact on downstream inhabitants and land-use. By using a two-step process, the Index integrates these diverse characteristics to rank flood threat, flood control and downstream damage for hydropower across the basin in a clear and transparent risk table. Planners can then consult the table to understand whether the reservoir will fall into one of the three main categories:

A recent ICEM study has shown that climate change influenced landslides and flooding poses a serious threat to major National transport arteries in Viet Nam, such as the north-south National Road 14 and Ha Noi to HCMC Railway Line.

Viet Nam has invested heavily in transport infrastructure over the past decade. This has led to significant improvements to the road network in particular, with a five-fold increase in paved surface over the past seven years and a 30,000km increase in total length. However, the potential threat from climate change to the network was until now, not well understood.

This study is part of a two year (2012 to 2014) Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded technical assistance project to support the Government’s National Target Programme to respond to climate change (NTP-RCC), with one of the main aims being to develop a better understanding of the potential impact from climate change to the transport sector. The work has included a rigorous consultative process with ministerial and provincial transport stakeholders, field visits to major assets, detailed modelling to determine current and 2050 climate conditions, and GIS spatial analysis.

The study found that of the various climate threats that could impact transport assets, landslides have the most potential to cause catastrophic damage, followed by floods.

Results also showed that National Road 14 (known as HCM Highway), which is a critical artery from Ha Noi to HCMC, is the transport asset that will experience the greatest exposure to landslides in Viet Nam in future climate. Compared to current climate conditions, the length at the highest risk will increase by 50% to 200km by 2050. In addition, approximately 120km of this road that was previously only at moderately exposed will, due to climate change, […]

Heavy rains and flash floods caused by tropical storms this month are causing considerable damage to rural infrastructure in northern Vietnam. Projected impacts from climate change threaten to make conditions in poor mountainous areas even worse in the near future.

HANOI, VIETNAM – 15 July 2013: ICEM researchers have been visiting villages and meeting community members in Dak Lak province Vietnam, to more clearly understand the impacts of hydropower dams on their lives and livelihoods.

Villagers in these areas close to the Cambodia border are reporting diverse impacts from the decade-old hydropower dam projects on their experiences of flooding and drought. The most interesting aspect for ICEM researchers was how localized the impacts were felt. The villagers’ agricultural usage and the location of the individual villages and farms in relation to the cascading dams all impact significantly on whether they were experiencing adverse affects in terms of water supply management.

Farmers and villagers from Buon Don, Buon Tri, Drek B and Ea Mar village along the Srepok river were interviewed as part of a survey for the Mekong Challenge Program on Water and Food (CPWF). This component of the program considers the impact of water supply infrastructure (WSI) on floods and droughts in the Mekong Region and the implications for food production.

The findings of the survey are especially important considering the projected impacts of climate change in the region, which is expected to increase the incidence of floods and droughts. Understanding the localized impacts related to the hydropower infrastructure means that the existing water management systems could be productively used manage water resources – both now and in the future.

The Srepok River is a major tributary of the Mekong River. Flowing from the Central Highlands of Vietnam into northeastern Cambodia, the river supports riparian communities who are largely dependent on fishing, lowland rice cultivation, and the collection of non-timber forest products for their livelihoods. Beginning in 2003, Vietnam’s state-owned Electricity of Vietnam began constructing the 280 MW […]

HANOI, VIETNAM – 13 May 2013: ICEM researchers have identified that the effects of climate change in the vulnerable Mekong wetlands will add to the threats on the critically endangered Siamese Crocodile.

Temperature changes during their breeding and hatching season are projected to become a critical climate change concern for the species. Climate change in the Mekong region is expected to cause temperature variability – which will affect the sex ratio of hatching reptiles.

Crocodile hatchlings – usually emerging in June or July – may become a completely female or male brood, depending on temperatures during incubation. Temperature is the critical component which defines the embryo sex of crocodiles. If the incubation temperature is higher than about 32oC, the brood will be female. In addition, warmer temperatures are also known to increase appetite in crocodiles, which combined with decreasing habitat may place further stress on the Siamese Crocodiles in the lower Mekong Basin.

The vulnerability of the Siamese Crocodile (Crocodylus siamensis) was identified during a case study was conducted in 2011 – 2012 in the Xe Champhone Wetlands by ICEM’s local partners in IUCN Lao. The study was part of a basin wide assessment of climate change threats, vulnerability and adaptation options for the wetlands in the Lower Mekong Basin and adaptation commissioned by the Mekong River Commission and carried out by ICEM and its partners, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, WorldFish Centre & Southeast Asia Regional START Centre. The Xe Champhone Wetlands covers approximately 450 km2 of central Lao PDR – part of the Xe Bang Hieng River basin. The Siamese Crocodile is the species of highest conservation concern in the region, which holds the largest population of this species in Lao PDR with […]

BANGKOK, THAILAND – 29 March 2013: A team of ICEM researchers today released the results from a study on climate change in the Lower Mekong Basin. A major finding in the study forecasts changes in temperature and rainfall altering the suitability for some important industrial and food crops in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ICEM was contracted by The Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change Project (Mekong ARCC) – to conduct the study, the first of its kind in the Mekong region, for USAID’s Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA). The scientific team from ICEM looked at how changes in temperature and precipitation will affect growing conditions and yields for major crops like rice, maize, rubber, cassava, soya and coffee, as well as fisheries and livestock productivity. The study points to a number of “hotspots” around the region where climate change may have the strongest impact.

The region is highly dependent upon natural resources, with 70 percent of the basin’s 60 million people living as farmers and fishers, and highly vulnerable to changes in the climate and its impact on their livelihoods. The study represents the first step in the Mekong ARCC project’s effort to integrate science with local knowledge and help communities in the four countries prepare detailed local climate change adaptation assessments and plans for action. The study results will assist decision making and planning by government and business leaders in the four countries of the Lower Mekong Basin, which are exporters of crops like rubber, cassava and coffee.

Climate scientists generally agree that an average annual temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius is a critical threshold—beyond this, climate change will severely disrupt natural systems and people’s lives. But according to the study, some areas […]

HANOI, VIETNAM – 7 March 2013: Climate change is set to impact extensively on agricultural productivity, and force changes in land usage by 2050 in lower Mekong Basin countries, according to a new ICEM study as part of the Mekong ARCC project.

The finding of the study in agriculture were presented in a large info-graphics poster at Mekong Environmental Symposium 2013 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Held 5-7 March 2013, the Mekong Environmental Symposium was an international platform for governmental decision-makers, scientists, and other organizations active in the Mekong context.

ICEM was present to contribute international expertise and to contribute to trans-disciplinary information exchange for the benefit of the river basin. Experts were present from all six riparian countries, in the fields of river ecology, environmental monitoring, hydrology, socio-economics, energy, disaster management, trade and other sectors. Approximately 300-350 participants attended the high-profile three-day event.

The findings of the study indicated that climate change will affect the lives and livelihoods of more than 42 million people in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) who depend entirely on agriculture. Changes to the Mekong monsoon could cause floods, droughts and increasingly violent storms, bringing huge challenges to the agricultural sector.

The study (2011-2013) assessed the climate change impacts on subsistence and commercial farming in the LMB by 2050. Key subsistence and commercial crop species were studied, namely; lowland rain-fed rice, soya, maize, cassava, robusta coffee and rubber. The study used the results of statistical downscaling of Global Circulation Models coupled with a land use suitability assessment tool to examine the impacts of projected changes in climate on the suitability of the six crops.